


Power Trip

by guineamania



Series: GYWO Bingo [9]
Category: Chuck (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Steampunk, Gen, History
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-11-22
Packaged: 2018-05-02 21:44:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5264768
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guineamania/pseuds/guineamania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The analytical engine completely changed Victorian London, but maybe it wasn't all for the best</p>
            </blockquote>





	Power Trip

**Author's Note:**

> For the Steampunk square on my GYWO Bingo and the prompt: Power Trip

Bryce had been recruited when he was too young to really understand what was happening. The analytical engine had just been revealed to the masses and it changed the way the newly industrialising country worked. The large technological devices were becoming part of everyday life and of course rebels chose to take advantage of this new means. They believed that if they shut down or hacked the engines than they would cripple industry. The thing is, they were right. The government called them clackers, the people that wanted to ruin everything they had built. So at the end of compulsory education, when the children were eleven and malleable, they tested for a technical affinity. Bryce tested positive, top of his class; his parents were so proud but they had no idea what the men who took him away would do. He was trained through long hours and with no concern to his wellbeing. They wanted a drone and Bryce was not going to be one for them. Each of the technically gifted were usually paired with a simple agent; Bryce’s first was Sarah. She was wonderful and beautiful but she was too far under their control; she wouldn’t listen to Bryce when he tried to explain what they were doing. The government was using these agents and devices to spy on people; they were tearing people from their families if they had even a hint of usefulness or rebellion. Sarah was lost to him.

 

Bryce tried to save one. He was called Charles Bartowski and he was the best mind of his generation, even better than Bryce. Bryce had been told to bring him in but he saw what the engine had already taken from Chuck and saw all the other man had to live for. So he told the testers that Chuck had cheated on his test, Chuck had been left alone and Bryce had felt like he had given something back to the world. Until he was forced to bring his friend back in. There was a new development, a computer but it was in someone’s mind not one of the labouring machines that filled rooms. Bryce knew this was too much power for one greedy person to have. So he was going to put it into his own mind; yes it could kill him, yes they could extract it and then kill him.  But he had to risk it. The human race was too long to have this, they had only just invented the devices themselves, there was something wrong and Bryce took it upon himself to fix this and find out how this was happening.

 

There was a slight flaw in his plan. John Casey, the best non-gifted agent he had ever met. More importantly the problem was John Casey with a musket. He had stolen the mind device, it was surprisingly small, and was about to bust out when John Casey appeared from nowhere and started shooting. Thankfully the current weapons had not been improved by this technological rush and so Casey only had a limited number of shots remaining. Unfortunately, one hit as Bryce ran. So he did what he had to do, he bribed an urchin to take the device to Chuck. Chuck was the only man in this world he could really trust. “I’m sorry old friend,” Bryce whispered to the air as his vision faded to black.


End file.
